Apparatus for the finishing of artificial and synthetic filamentary material



June 23, 1964 P. J. TERRA 3,137,986

APPARATUS FOR THE FINISHING 0F ARTIFICIAL AND SYNTHETIC FILAMENTARY MATERIAL Filed Feb. 6, 1962 Inventor Pierre Jae n Te/rr d By M 72% W A ttorneys United States Patent 3,137,986 APPARATUS FOR THE FINISHING 0F ARTKFIQ'IAL AND SYNTHETIC FILAMENTARY MATERIAL Pierre Jean Terra, Lyon, France, assignor to S'ociete Rhodiaceta, Paris, France, a French body corporate Filed Feb. 6, 1962, Ser. No. 171,458 Claims priority, application France Mar. 4, 1961 1 Claim. (Cl. 57-34) This invention relates to an apparatus for the finishing of antificial and synthetic filamentary material, within which expression is included all forms of filamentary material based on man-made filaments. More particularly the invention relates to an apparatus for thethermal shrinkage of artificial and synthetic filamentary material followed by continuous twisting of such material.

It is known to subject filamentary material to a thermal treatment which is preceded or followed by a false-twist operation.

It has also been proposed to subject filamentary material to successive twisting and heating operations by feeding the material from twisting devices through heating units located vertically above the twisting devices and then on to wind-up bobbins located vertically above the heating units. By such heat treatment the filamentary material may be shrunk.

Apparatus as just described however tends to be of considerable overall height and in order to construct such apparatus so that the exit from the heating units, and the wind-up bobbins, should be of normal operators height, it is necessary to restrict the height of the heating units, e.g. to about 50 cm. This, however, leads to the disadvantage that either the duration of the thermal treatment is very short or the speed of travel of the filamentary material through the units must be made very slow.

Furthermore, in such apparatus, the vertical construction involves that since the twisting spindles must themselves be spaced well apart, e.g. by 15 to 20 cm., the heating units must themselves be similarly spaced apart, i.e. the whole heating device becomes of very considerable dimensions and there is increased danger of heat losses.

According to the present invention there is provided a machine for finishing and twisting artificial and synthetic filamentary material, which comprises a frame mounted to afford access to both faces, carrying on one face a bank of substantially vertical heating tubes having a length of 60 to 160 cm., means for leading threads upwards through the heating tubes, one thread to each tube, guide means for leading the threads over the top of the frame to the opposite face thereof and a series of downtwisting spindles, one :for each thread, located on said opposite face, the heating tubes being arranged compactly at spacings substantially less than the spacing between adjacent twisting spindles.

The thermal treatment tubes may be rectilinear, or they may be slightly curved in order to ensure a better heating of the filaments by localised contact with the hot walls of the tubes. By providing that they are only 60160 cm. in length and by using the two-face frame construction referred to, the whole apparatus may be made so compact that it is convenient to the operators height.

The filaments may be fed in sheet formation to the bottom of a bank of tubes, individually passed therethrough, and the filaments received on the series of vertical twisting spindles on the other face of the frame.

This combination, with which it is possible to use under practicable conditions tubes of a height ranging up to 160 cm., makes it possible to lengthen the duration of the thermal treatment or to increase the winding speed to 100 m./ min. or more. The use of heating units whose tubes are of small diameter and whose spacing is small is very favourable to heat economy.

The frame of the apparatus may be constructed of any desired material, and it may be an open frame, including between the two faces a gangway to enable an operator who stands in this gangway to observe and attend both faces of the machine.

The vertical-spindle twisting devices may be of any known type, for example of the ring or cap type.

Each spindle is not necessarily disposed opposite the corresponding heating tube on the other face of the frame, and the filaments may be conducted obliquely from the outlet of the tubes to the twisting position. It is thus possible to employ a battery of heating tubes whose spacing is smaller than that necessary for the spindles; the

' latter, by reason of the thickness of the wound package,

increased by the diameter of the balloon, must be spaced well apart. This advantage may be heightened by using two banks of spindles alternately situated at two different levels in order that the wound packages on neighboring spindles may not come into contact with one another in ballooning out as their bulk increases.

A particular form of apparatus according to the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of the apparatus and FIG. 2 is a section on the line AA' of FIG. 1 and showing the guide rollers. A description of these drawings is contained in the following example which will serve to illustrate also the process of the invention:

Example Referring to the accompanying drawings, the apparatus comprises a frame 8 having mounted on one face a plurality of heating tubes 3 surrounded by heat-insulating material 4, and on the other face a plurality of twisting spindles 7. Guide rollers, 2, 5 and 6 are also provided. Filaments 1 of polyvinyl alcohol, hot-stretched to five times their initial length in known manner, are conducted in the form of a sheet of filaments at a speed of m./min. by the rollers 2 to the bottom of the tubes 3 which have an internal diameter of 3 mm. The tubes are electrically heated, by means not shown, to maintain a temperature of 230 C. within them. On leaving the tubes, the filaments are taken up by rollers 5, whose linear speed is 100 m./ min. The filaments consequently shrink by 20% in passing through the tubes.

The filaments thereafter pass over rollers 6 and are wound and twisted on the vertical spindles 7, which rotate at 3800 r.p.m. The total height of the machine is 175 cm. and the height of the tube is cm., which makes it possible to perform all manipulations, cleaning operations and repairs without difiiculty.

I claim:

A machine for finishing and twisting artificial and synthetic filamentary material, which comprises a frame mounted to afford access to both faces, carrying on one face a bank of substantially vertical heating tubes having a length of 60 to cm., means for leading threads upwards through the heating tubes, one thread to each tube, guide means for leading the threads over the top of the frame to the opposite face thereof, and a series of downtwisting spindles, one for each thread, located on said opposite face, the heating tubes being arranged compactly at spacings substantially less than the spacing between adjacent twisting spindles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,089,239 Whitehead Aug. 10, 1937 3,020,700 Van Dijk Feb. 13, 1962 3,053,039 Demmel Sept. 11, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 524,151 Italy Apr. 20, 1955 

